Research: Moms hard-wired to hear crying infants; dads, not so much

Now research reaffirms what so many of us already know: women's brains appeared to be hardwired to respond to the cries of a hungry baby.

Mom: "It's your turn to get up with the baby."

Dad: "What? I don't hear anything."

If you are a mom, you've said those words. Same goes for dads.

Now research reaffirms what so many of us already know: women's brains appeared to be hardwired to respond to the cries of a hungry baby.

According to a National Institutes of Health release, researchers asked men and women to let their minds wander, then played a recording of white noise that contained the sounds of a crying baby.

"Brain scans showed that, in the women, patterns of brain activity abruptly switched to an attentive mode when they heard the infant cries, whereas the menís brains remained in the resting state," according to the release.